Music for Dancing

Please check out my article Tango DJ Responsibility for an extended explanation of music for dancing in the context of my philosophies, theories, and practices by which a tango DJ prepares and plays the music for our dancing. This section of the site includes succinct portions of that article along with details about each tanda I have prepared and use in my DJ programming. The section of the site called Dance Programs includes the actual sequence of tandas I have played on dance nights.

My tandas are segregated by style and grouped according to function in the milonga. Function is related to the strength and ease with which the dance rhythm can be recognized in the music, style is a more-specific variable that includes the era during which the recordings were created along with some finder details of the feeling of the music beyond the dance rhythm.

Functions

The tandas with the strongest sense of tango rhythm I call the Crystal Clear Rhythm. These are the ones that those newest to the tango often find the most accessible for dancing. These are also the ones that can help any dancers get back to tango from any dance explorations. These can be the mainstay tandas of any milonga.

Tandas that have less distinct tango rhythms I call the Other Rhythmic Sensibilities. These are the ones that intermediate tango dancers are most comfortable exploring.

Tandas that are drawn from the danceable music that continued to be developed as tango music diverged into concert music I call Progressive or Evolutionary.

Tandas that are not tango but are designed to be played at a milonga for variety I call Changeup. These include milonga and vals along with other styles of music. The other styles of music include alternatango and music for other styles of dance.

Function		Style (links are to descriptions on this page, below)
Crystal Clear Rhythm		- Old Guard - Early Golden Age - Golden Age Harder Rhythmic
Other Rhythmic Sensibilities		- Golden Age Softer Rhythmic - Golden Age Smooth - Golden Age Lyrical - Golden Age Dramatic - Modern Dance Orquestas
Progressive or Evolutionary		- Transition Era - New Tango - Tango Fusion
Changeup	Standard	- Milonga - Vals
	Alternative	- AlternaTango - AlternaTango Fusion
	Other Dance Styles	- Latin - Swing - Pop
Special		- Last Tanda with La Cumparsita

Styles

(links are to details of each tanda in the style on separate pages in this site)

Old Guard - The tangos of the old guard generally had less complex arrangements and simpler, more naked rhythms in comparison to the tangos played during the golden age and later eras.

Early Golden Age - The early golden-age tangos represent a transition from the old guard to the golden age of tango. They have clear, simple rhythms but show signs of the stronger orchestration and lyricism that characterize golden-age tangos.

Golden Age Harder Rhythmic - Harder-rhythmic tangos are characterized by prominent ric-tic, double-time rhythms that seem to insist on milonguero-style dancing. For the tangos in this style that have vocals, the singer stays relatively close to the orchestra's rhythm. (The prominence of the ric-tic, double-time beats is what distinguishes the harder rhythmic, softer rhythmic, and smooth categories of tango music. Although the differences in rhythmic accents may give an impression of differences in tempo, these categories are distinguished by the rhythmic accents and not the tempo at which the orchestra plays.)

Golden Age Softer Rhythmic - In softer rhythmic tangos, the ric-tic rhythms are present but not prominent, allowing the music to support either milonguero- or salon-style dancing. For the tangos in this style that have vocals, the singer stays relatively close to the orchestra's rhythm. (The prominence of the ric-tic, double-time beats is what distinguishes the harder rhythmic, softer rhythmic, and smooth categories of tango music. Although the differences in rhythmic accents may give an impression of differences in tempo, these categories are distinguished by the rhythmic accents and not the tempo at which the orchestra plays.)

Golden Age Smooth - Smooth tangos are generally instrumental music that lack the ric-tic accents found in the harder and softer rhythmic music and the big crescendos, dramatic pauses and heavier beat of dramatic tango music. (The prominence of the ric-tic, double-time beats is what distinguishes the harder rhythmic, softer rhythmic, and smooth categories of tango music. Although the differences in rhythmic accents may give an impression of differences in tempo, these categories are distinguished by the rhythmic accents and not the tempo at which the orchestra plays.)

Golden Age Lyrical - During the golden age, sometimes the singer sang with orchestra, sometimes the orchestra played for the singer. In lyrical tangos, the singer doesn't adhere closely to the orchestra's underlying rhythm, and the overall effect is to emphasize the lyrical nature of the music.

Golden Age Dramatic - Dramatic tangos build on the power of the smooth sound and have more dramatic arrangements with bigger crescendos, often a heavier beat, and sometimes tempo shifts.

Transition Era - Transition-era tangos were recorded during an era in which the tango orchestras were shifting from dance music to concert music. Transition-era music was built on the foundation developed by golden-era orchestras, and many of the transition era orchestras were led by musicians who led or played in the big-name orchestras of the golden age. Those transition-era recordings useful for social dancing have a prominent dance beat.

New Tango - Building on the work of Anibal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese and Horacio Salgan; Astor Piazzolla led a revolution in concert-oriented tango music in which drama was heightened through rubato playing, pauses, and tempo changes. The combined effect works well for tango dance performances, but can be outside the comfort zone for social dancing. For social dancing, the most useful new-tango recordings combine some of Piazzolla's sensibilities with a tango dance beat that is sufficiently strong for modern ears.

Modern Dance Orquestas - Some modern tango orchestras, such as Color Tango, have returned to the dance beat that characterized the golden era of tango dance music. The recordings made by modern dance orchestras typically have more intricate arrangements with a little more of a dramatic concert feel than those made during the golden era, but the dance beat is prominent and the fidelity is much better than on the old recordings. In many ways, the music played by modern dance orquestas seems to be what might have developed had tango music and social dancing continued evolving together after the golden era.

Tango Fusion - Tango fusion integerates traditional tango rhythms and instrumentation with other musical traditions, contemporary instruments and electronica to create a modern and culturally relevant world tango music with a dance-club sound.

AlternaTango – Alternatango is music that is not tango, but it conveys feelings similar to what is found in tango music and we can express ourselves through the music by dancing with tango sensibilities.

AlternaTango Fusion – A category of tandas that starts with tango fusion and ends with alternatango. The tango fusion that starts the tanda is selected to setup the final alternatango song of the tanda. Many dancers when first hearing alternatango music wonder aloud whether tango can be danced to such and will often hesitate to get out and dance. Where dancing alternatango is a poorly developed tradition, alternatango fusion tandas can prepare the dancers by starting with something closer to their tango comfort zone, leading them towards the edge, and having them already out on the floor dancing tango as the alternatango is happening.

Milonga – One of the predecessors of tango and a familiar changeup at milongas the world over.

Vals – Tango written in waltz time (3/4, three beats per measure) and another familiar changeup at most milongas.

Latin – A popular changeup in many tango communities where there is a close connection and especially significant overlap with the local salsa community. Latin can include especially salsa but also meringue (a favorite of mine), bachata, cha-cha, and others.

Swing – Another popular changeup; works especially well in tango communities where there is a close connection and especially significant overlap with the local swing community. Swing can include swing jazz, jump blues, jive, rhythm-and-blues, and some rock-and-roll.

Pop – Works best when used rarely and only if the mood is right with plenty of people on hand who are out for fun and glad to be enjoying themselves.

Last Tanda with La Cumparsita – A special category of tanda for the end of the night that ends with a version of La Cumparsita and is designed to setup the version of La Cumparsita by setting it at its appropriate place in a composed tanda.

Questions or comments? Contact me by e-mail at Tangero1@aol.com